Judge Juan Merchan has found former President Donald Trump in contempt for violating the gag order in his hush money trial for the 10th time and said he’ll consider jail time going forward.
The judge said everyone gets warnings and fines before jail time. If he could, he’d issue a large fine, but he can’t because state law caps the fine at $1,000 per violation. The judge acknowledged that a $10,000 fine for a multi-millionaire isn’t even a punishment, but immediately jailing someone because they can easily afford the fine seemed wrong. Trump violated the gag order 10 times before being officially told to stop, so the judge is lumping them all into a “first” violation. He said the “second” violation absolutely will be punished with jail time. We’ll see.
When does this raise questions of precedent? Is everyone entitled to 10 violations of a gag order in NYC now?
Yes, if they can pay the $10,000 fine.
The judge said everyone gets warnings and fines before jail time. If he could, he’d issue a large fine, but he can’t because state law caps the fine at $1,000 per violation. The judge acknowledged that a $10,000 fine for a multi-millionaire isn’t even a punishment, but immediately jailing someone because they can easily afford the fine seemed wrong. Trump violated the gag order 10 times before being officially told to stop, so the judge is lumping them all into a “first” violation. He said the “second” violation absolutely will be punished with jail time. We’ll see.
Bullshit fixed-value fines are only a deterrent for poors.